Resting stars for Lions may not be such a Super idea

Australian Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver has conceded that his plans of convincing all of the Australian Super sides to rest key Wallabies for the British and Irish Lions tour might not get unanimous support.

But at Monday's launch of the 100 Days Countdown to the series in Sydney, the ARU boss revealed that whatever plan is put in place in order to ensure Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has the support he needs will be revealed ''imminently''.

Lions challenge … David Pocock, James Horwill, Benn Robinson, Michael Hooper and Will Genia with the Tom Richards trophy at the new Qantas livery unveiling. Photo: Getty Images

Pulver addressed the ARU board last week on a number of issues, and one of them was the plan to rest Wallabies to maximise the Wallabies' chances of victory in the Lions series that starts on June 5.

''He is going to get all the support he needs in terms of getting that group together ideally three weeks ahead of the first game [of the series],'' Pulver said. ''I have to go back and speak to the various Super franchises about that over the next couple of days, but we will be getting an announcement out imminently.

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''I am not sure we will get a consensus view on that. Clearly, they want to have their players available for every Super rugby game. My priority frankly is that Robbie has the right preparation in order to make sure we beat the Lions.''

Asked if there might be exceptions pending the status of an Australian Super side, Pulver said: ''That is something we would review at the time. It is really difficult to predict what the situation is going to be in Super Rugby at that stage. So we will assess those on their merits at the time.''

Pulver reiterated that Australian rugby would benefit from the profits on tickets sales and broadcasting rights, citing planned expansion at Sevens, women's and club levels. ''It does give us a nice financial kicker to help us look at some of the investment opportunities that are coming up,'' he said.

Pulver even hopes that a proposal for a national club championship could get up and running by the end of this year. ''Ideally, I would love to have it up this year,'' he said. ''I'm not sure that is achievable, but that is something I'm going to be talking to the clubs about.''